So that's when I decided to look for real-world evidence. The best calf development I could find was owned by sprinters, volleyball players, and soccer players. None of these athletes did calf raises with a pause at the bottom. In fact, their training emphasized the SSC. And none of them trained their calves only once per week either.

Looking at the muscle actions their sport demands, I realized an important component that I was overlooking was deceleration, whether they were slowing down from a top speed sprint, landing from a spike, or quickly changing directions with a soccer ball.

Therefore, I implemented calf exercises that train the SSC and overload the eccentric (lengthening) phase of muscle contractions. When these types of calf exercises were paired with a relatively high frequency of training each week, I'd found my solution.

Winner: Single-leg hop while holding a dumbbell on the same side.